Railway journal lubricator structure



Aug 17, 1943- J. J. HENNESSY RAILWAY JOURNAL LUBRICATOR STRUCTURE Filed .Ju 1y 5, 1941 I INVENTOR. JAMES J. HENNESSY w. A TC Q Patented Aug. 17, 1943 UNITED" STATES PATENT OFF-ICE" RAILWAY JOURNAL LUBRICATOR' STRUCTURE r V Jaines J. Hennessy, MontclaiiyN. J

Application July 5,4941, Serial No. 401,079 I V 7 claims.

This invention relates to mechanical lubricators for railway axle boxes such as are gen-- erally used on locomotive driving axles and inciude a lubricant cellar beneath theaxlejournal and a device for pumping lubricant from the cellar to'the journal. Some of the features de scribed and claimed herein were first disclosed and claimed in an earlier application filed by the present inventor April 18, 1940, SerialNo; 330,242, in which division of said subject matter was required. Some of the features referred to herein are also illustrated and described in a copendlng application by the present inventor filed May 21, 1941, Serial No. 394,441, new Patent No. 2,293,295, as a continuation in part of said ear ier application, Serial No. 330,242;

The main objects of the invention are to reduce and prevent the loss of oil from the cellar and to reduce or prevent the escape cf surplus oil pumped to thejournal.

These and other detail objects are attained by the structure illustrated in the accompanying dr" ing, in which 3 Figure l is a longitudinal vertical section through an axle box'showingthe axle journal and'a portion-f the hub of the wheel mounted thereon, a portion of the journal and lubricant cellar being broken away and the cellar-struc-- ture, cellar supporting plate, axle box and journal bearing being sectioned to better illustrate the construction. In this figure theparts are inclined from the horizontal to indicate a position assumed when the locomotive is on a highly banked curves i 1 Figure 2 is an endelevation and a verticaltransverse soction taken on the line 2-2 of Figure l.

Figure 3"is-a detail 'top view and horizontal section taken approximately on the line'3-3 of Figure l. p v

The wheel axle is indicated at! and is provided with a journal portion 2 which mounts the bearing 3- and the'box 5 having side walls 6 and a removable bottom plate I. The lubricator includes a'cel'lar having a bottom wall-8, supported on plate I, and upstanding side walls 9, received between the box side walls 6, and an upstanding front end'wall ID arranged to be positioned near the front end of journal 2; A pump structure indicated generally at P (actuated by the play of the journal transversely or the box) and a distributor structure indicated generally atD feed lubricant from the cellar and its reservoir H to the lower face of journal T, by which it is carried around to the bearing All of the above-described structure is well known in the art and in itselfcloes not constitute the present invention. V

Lubricators of this type are designed to pump adequate lubricant to the journal under unfavorable conditions, such as whenthe play of the journal longitudinally of the box is slightand when the lubricant is cold. Consequently cellar bottom wall 8" and plate I by pins 12 and;

when conditions are more favorable, as when there is increased play of the journal in the box and the lubricant is warm; greater quantitiesof lubricant than are necessary are'pum-ped to the journal, and this surpluslubricanttends to travel lengthwise of the journal and beyond the ends of the box and'be discharged and wasted.

r'l o prevent such escape of surplus lubricant at springs 23. "The upwardly facing portions of members [5 and N- arepr'ovided with upstanding ribs 23 and intermediate grooves 24 disposed-gen orally lengthwise of the cellar and journal but inclineddownwardly and towards the longitudmal center line of the cellar to wlpe from the journal surplus-lubricant at the front of thej ournal whichi's not discharged into recess l or is not captured and drained back" into the cellar by elements lii and If. These wipers are disclosed generally in Patent No. 2,191,468; issued February 2 7', 1940', to thepresent applicant.

The: wipers-illustrated herein include the additional feature of supplementary short lateral ribs" 25' which baffle movement of oil along ribs 23 towards the outerend of the journal, which movement would be mostrl'ikelyto occur along" the ribs-err the rising side of the journal. The extreme upperedgw of ribs 23 and 25am relatively narrow and are' ground to 'fit-the: journal contour and, under the thrust ol springs 28,- soon wear to a closefit against tho-journal, and as these ribs wear" down the wider surfaces or the lower. portions-of theribd are broughtin-to c'on tact with the journal; i

Members I 5 and I 0 have depending ribs fl 'and lugs 21 spaced apart and forming a recess receiving the cellar end wall l0. Pins 29 are fixedly mounted on wall 8 and their upper ends oppose the horizontal lower faces of lugs 21 to firmly support the members l5, l6 and the journal and wheel when the box is jacked up or the vehicle frame suspended by a crane, in which case the entire weight of the axles and wheels would rest upon the lubricator.

The above construction results in the spacing of the top edge 30 of end wall a substantial distance below the lower surface of journal 2 and when the box lurches towards the left, looking at Figure 1, there is a tendency for oil in the cellar to surge over the top of wall i0. Similarly, when the vehicle is standing still on a heavily banked curve, the axle, box and cellar at the inner or lower side of the curve would be inclined to the horizontal, as indicated in Figure 1, and the oil level in the cellar and reservoir would be about as indicated by line 3i in Figure 1, particularly if the oil supply had been replenished recently, in which case the oil would tend to flow over the top of end wall l0. v

To avoid these tendencies, the cellar is provided with baflie elements 32 and 33 extending inwardly and upwardly from wall it and forming therewith an upwardly opening pocket facing the journal and receiving wiper members it: and i6.

Transverse elements 34 extend between end wall in and element 33 and form guides for the ends of the wiper members and limit the movement of these members transversely of the cellar under the thrust of the rotating journal, and thereby avoid elongation of the holes in horizontal element 32 for pins 22 due to reciprocating move- 7 ment of the pins through element 32. A gap 35 between each element 34 and horizontal element 32 provides for the drainage of oil trapped in the ends of the pocket back to the central portion of the pocket. Element 33is provided with an opening 35 anda flap valve 31 which will permit oil trapped in the pocket to flow back to the cellar but will bloclgfiow of oil from the cellar into the pocket and over the top of wall In.

Sleeves 38 surround pins 22 and extend from the bottom of the cellar to horizontal element 32 and are brazed to the same to prevent the flow of oil to the interior of the pocket. Similarly, pins 29 are brazed to the bottom of element 32 so that the openings in the latter for the pins do not perm it the flow of oil into the pocke The pocket structure and the improved Wiper constructioncooperate to avoid substantial loss of lubricant which might otherwise escape under unfavorable conditions, and thereby contribute to the efiiciency of the lubricator and to a reduction in the length of the period which the lubri- V cator may be operated, without replenishing the oil supply.

The ribbed arrangement of the wiper members and the pocket structure associated with the wiper members cooperates for the intended purpose, but either of these features could be used without the other if desired and other variations in the structure may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and the exclusive use of those modifications which come within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

:What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a railwayjlocomotive driver journal, a bearing thereon, a lubricator for said journal and bearing including a cellar having an end wall, and a member extending acrosssaid end wall for wiping surplus oil supplied to said journal, said member comprising a plurality of upstanding ribs extending substantially longitudinally of the journal with their upper edges in contact with said journal, said bearing being recessed from its end inwardly over the journal and said Wall and forming an outwardly facing shoulder at its inner end, there being ribs projecting from said longitudinally extending ribs and substantially transversely thereof and positioned nearer to the end of the bearing than said shoulder.

2. In combination, a railway journal lubricator device including a lubricant cellar with a front wall extending transversely of the journal, a pair of arcuate members arranged end to end over said wall with their adjacent ends pivoted to each other and with their concave faces provided with ribs extending transversely of said wall and disposed to engage the journal surface to wipe surplus oil from the journal as it rotates and to return it to said cellar, there being ribs projecting from said first-mentioned ribs for intercepting oil flowing along said first-mentioned ribs away from the cellar, and means for holding said wipers with their concave faces against the journal.

3. A journal wiper for a lubricatorof the class described, comprising a member with upstanding ribs disposed to extend generall lengthwise of a journal to which the wiper is applied and to contact the same and to wipe therefrom lubricant tending to move with the rotating journal, there being ribs extending laterally from said first-mentioned ribs and disposed to contact the journal and to wipe from the journal lubricant 35 tending to move along said first-mentioned ribs.

4. A journal wiper for a lubricator of the class described, comprising an elongated member with upstanding ribs extending transversely of the length of the member and having their upper edges arranged to contact with a journal to which the device is applied so as to wipe therefrom lubricant tending to move with the journal as it rotates, there being ribs extending laterally from said first-mentioned ribs and between the ends of the latter and having their upper edges disposed to contact the journal and to wipe from the journal lubricant moving transversely of the member. 7 p

5. In a railway journal lubricator of the type described, a cellar having side walls and having an end wall extending between said side walls and adapted to be positioned near the outer end of the journal to which the lubricator is applied, elements extending inwardly and upwardly from said end wall and forming an upwardly opening pocket, and a member received in said pocket and extending upwardly therefrom and outwardly over the top of said end wall and provided with spaced ribs for contacting the lower face of the journal to wipe lubricant therefrom, said ribs forming channels between them, and the element forming the inner Wall of the pocket extending upwardly above-the level of the end wall of the lubricator and above the bottoms of'said channels to form a baflle for'lubricant tending tovflcw from the cellar over said end wall of the lubricator.

6. In a railway journal lubricator of the type described, a cellar having side walls and having an end wall extending between said side walls and adapted to be positioned near the outer end of the journal to which the lubricator is applied, elements extending inwardly and upwardly from said end wall and forming an upwardly opening pocket, a member received in said pocket and extending upwardly therefrom and outwardly overthe top of said end wall and provided with elements for contacting the lower face ofthe journal to wipe lubricant therefrom and direct it to the rear of said end wall, the element forming the bottom Wall of the pocket being provided with apertures, supports resting upon the floor of the cellar and extending up- Wardly through said apertures and yieldingly mounting the wiping member, and sleeves surrounding said supports and sealing the interior of the pocket against the passage of lubricant through said apertures.

7. In a railway journal lubricator of the type described, a cellar having side walls and having an end Wall extending between said side walls and adapted to be positioned near the outer end in the pocket, and a flap valve associated with said opening and preventing the flow of lubricant from the cellar through said opening into the pocket.

JAS. J. HENNESSY. 

